The building destroyed by fire in the city of Valencia in Spain was covered with “alucobond”.
In a promotional video, construction company Fbex highlights the complex’s “excellent materials and high-quality finishes” and states that the facades were “covered with an innovative aluminum material such as alucobond”, El Pais newspaper reported on Friday.
According to the Spanish newspaper, the material consists of a panel consisting of two sheets of aluminum and an insulating filling that can be flammable to varying degrees.
Esther Puchades, an expert who assessed the building several years ago, said El Pais that the facade contained polyurethane as internal insulation.
Secretary of the Association [espanhola] Jose Manuel Fernandez from the rigid polyurethane industry states that there is an error in this assessment and that there is no polyurethane in the building.
“They forgot to say that each panel contains only 0.5 mm of aluminum compared to 5 mm of solid polyethylene,” David Calvo, an architect and former Socialist MP in the Valencian parliament, also wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to El Pais, the architect claims that there are thousands of buildings throughout Spain with the same coating because it has good thermal properties, insulating both cold and heat. “In addition, at that time it was unthinkable to build a building from exposed brick, which was associated with a lower social class and more ancient times,” he states.
Technical engineer and installation specialist David Higuera believes that other building materials may have contributed to the spread of the fire, and the damage to the ceilings can only be attributed to the use of flammable insulation.
According to the same source, construction of the building began in 2006 and was completed in 2008. At the time of construction, new building codes and regulations that were more restrictive in the use of materials had not yet come into force. It was approved in 2006, but there was a transition period before it became mandatory and all those who had previously requested a license, as was the case, were not subject to it.
Remember that polyurethane was the material that was initially found responsible for the violence and rapid spread of the fire that destroyed the largest building in Valencia.
Spanish media reported that the flames spread throughout the building within 30 minutes and that this was because the polyurethane was “highly flammable”.
TO morning PostJoaquim Leonardo, commander of the Algheiran-Mem Martins volunteer fire service, says that “it would be an oversimplification” to say that the fire was caused by polyurethane. The commander explains that there are several types of polyurethane with greater or less flammability and durability. He also added that polyurethane is “highly flammable, like any other cladding material” and that it “requires high temperatures” to burn.
Joaquim Leonardo also claimed that most buildings in Europe were covered with this material and that sofas and curtains in houses also contributed to the spread of fire.
In any case, as David Calvo describes, the use of this material would pass any control because it is legal.
The real estate company that designed the building filed for bankruptcy in 2010 with debts of 640 million euros.
Author: Andrea Churra Pereira This Daniela Vilar Santos
Source: CM Jornal
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